


No Taksies Backsies

by hanktalkin



Category: Magic: The Gathering
Genre: F/M, Memory Magic, Reunions, Touchy-Feely
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-04-22
Updated: 2019-04-22
Packaged: 2020-01-23 17:03:43
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 908
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18554038
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/hanktalkin/pseuds/hanktalkin
Summary: vraska and jace have a much needed reunion and also ral is There





	No Taksies Backsies

She stops, her lunge forward faltering as she loses the passion behind it, tendrils of light fading from her temples and retreating into Beleren’s hands. She had been wary, careful not to underestimate the illusion mage, keeping careful track of where the real Beleren ended and his doubles began. But this is…this is something different. It has to be another sort of illusion, _has_ to, because now she is looking at him and a whole different set of emotions filter through her brain.

Beleren lowers his hands, not taking the blue-white glow of his eyes off her. “Vraska?” After a moment of hesitation, he tries again with, “…Captain?”

Captain. _Oh Captain, My Captain_ , that has a familiar ring to it, like the passage of a book she’d read a long time ago. Everything is wobbly, but the resolve she’d mustered to fight the mind mage is gone, even knowing his specialty is breaking wills.

“…She good?” Zarek asks from the opposite corner. She had been planning to deal with _him_ second, knowing he was capable of more raw magic than Beleren, but wary that the guildpact could interfere with their duel if she left him unchecked. But now Zarek looks thoughtfully dubious, head pinging between the two of them as Vraska’s hair twists. “I’d rather not have to zap a third guildmaster.”

But neither she nor Beleren give him notice. Because now in front of her is _Jace_ , her _crew_ , her…her…her  _partner_ and the one who figured out what Bolas was doing. How he was using her, twisting her against her own home. The one who’d removed her memories to keep her safe, no matter how terrible the price.

“Stop it,” she hisses, recoiling backwards, the dedication folding into defense. “How do I know these memories aren’t plants as well?”

Jace says nothing. Brave, kind, puppy-dog Jace does not say a word—instead, his face softens, and the last bit of blue light fades from his eyes. He smiles, even as his brows knit together in a saddened way that says more than any word ever could.

She gets it then. Or maybe she’s already gotten it, but just needed a push to accept it.

Theses memories are real, maybe the most real she’s ever felt in her life, and the last of her doubt slips away. “…Jace,” she says, uncaring how breathily it comes out. She walks over too fast, too unguarded towards someone who broke into the stronghold and ambushed her on her way to the roof. But she gets it now: this was the only way to get her alone.

She steps up to him. They’re practically chest to chest, or would be if she didn’t have nearly a foot over him. Her hands…they twitch, and without even thinking, she raises them to his face. She draws back his hood and…There he is. That’s Jace. _Her_ Jace.

He smiles now, the sadness gone this time. His eyes are bright and familiar and _alive_. “It’s good to see you, guildmaster.”

He uses her current title, but storm and sea and jungle seem to be blowing through them, and she takes him all in. New creases have formed on his face since Ixalan, and his hair has grown longer too. She wonders what it would be like to run her fingers through it, and after a moment, she does.

The motion feels stiff and unnatural, as much simple pleasure as it brings her. It seems to surprise Jace, but no revulsion comes from within her. There is no familiar fear that rushes up to greet her. It isn’t like when she held him through it all underneath the waterfall; she doesn’t want to touch him for his sake, but for hers.

“Oh,” a voice comes from not to far away. She had all but forgotten Zarek, too wrapped up in seeing Jace alive. (Well, she knew he was _alive_ , but she’s getting used to the fact that that’s a good thing.) Zarek shifts on his feet before addressing Jace. “Didn’t think you could have mentioned _this_ before we came busting in here?”

“What _are_ you talking about?” Jace says, but Vraska is already ignoring the lightning mage again. She runs a thumb over the newly created crow’s feet, and Jace returns his attention to her. “I think you’re still a little scrambled from memory return: you’re usually not so touchy feely.”

“I know…I am…” Her words don’t seem right now, like anything she says will fail to capture what she’s feeling. “It’s just so good to see you.”

The smile across his face stretches to a full-blown grin. “It’s good to see you too.” He puts a hand over hers, and guides it off his face. “But barriers like that don’t come down that easy. Why don’t we talk later? When mind magic doesn’t make us do things we might regret.”

She sighs, but she thinks he’s right. She doesn’t think she’s fully herself at the moment, no matter how right this feels. With a pause, she steps away from him, and blinks when she realizes she dropped her sword in her elation. She retrieves it, and Jace draws his hood back over his head. He gives her a nod, one which she returns, and start off further into Bolas’s citadel.

Zarek is left standing alone in the room, to which he laments, “yeesh. You think you could warn a guy.”


End file.
